


Here Comes the Clowns

by lasairfhiona



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-18
Updated: 2013-01-18
Packaged: 2017-11-25 21:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/643315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not everyone likes the circus and it's not just because the clown are freaky<br/> written for the Clint/Hawkeye table at <a href="http://avengers-tables.livejournal.com/">avengers_tables</a> prompt: circus</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here Comes the Clowns

Clint walked into his favourite coffee shop and sighed when he saw the poster at the counter. The whole fucking city had gone circus crazy. He really didn't care if it was _The Greatest Show on Earth_ or if it was at Madison Square Garden. He just wanted it to be over so he didn't have to hear all the excited children and the retelling of the shows while he waited in lines.

He waited for his coffee order and thought about the fact if there ever was a time when the Avengers needed to be put on call, it was now; something, anything, to call off the circus.

Taking his coffee, he headed to a quiet corner and sat down. He pulled out the tablet from his satchel and brought up the secure anywhere network and skimmed SHIELD's daily threat list. There was nothing on it that couldn't be handled by the FBI or CIA just like it had been for the last week. For the first time in his career as a SHIELD agent or an Avenger, Hydra, AIM and whatever mad scientist or alien race were quiet not even a hint of activity above what they were already monitoring.

"You don't look happy?" The barista said as she sat his breakfast sandwich down in front of him.

"Normally, I'd be thrilled with the news, but I'm looking for excuses to get out of the city and I'm not finding any," he replied before picking up the sandwich and taking a bite.

"But the circus is in town. Why would you want to leave?"

Swallowing, he answered her innocent question. "Because the circus is in town," he answered blandly.

"How can you not like the circus?"

He got this question all the time. For some reason people found it odd that he of all people hated the circus. "It's the clowns," he said smiling, "They really freak me out," he added knowing half the people hated clowns and it was a viable reason for hating the circus. 

"Oh I know, they are so freaky, but I love the other stuff so I go."

"Have fun," Clint said honestly as she walked back to the counter. He shook his head and finished his sandwich and coffee while he ran through some email and other paperwork he had to file before Phil took him to task about it.

*&*

Clint cringed as Tony bounded into the room like an over eager rabbit on speed. He was almost afraid to ask what Tony had done now to put him in such a good mood.

"I got us all tickets to the circus. Best seats in the house."

It was just as he was afraid. Standing up Clint, set the book he'd been reading aside and stood. "Count me out," he said as he strode out of the room.

"What was that all about?"

"Clint doesn't like circuses," Coulson said matter of factly as he got up to follow Clint.

"But he was in the circus. How could he not like them?" Tony asked confused.

Coulson turned and dropped his head briefly before looking around the room at the rest of his team before focusing on Tony. "Twenty-Five, thirty years ago the circus, especially the small traveling ones, weren't all Barnum and Bailey. Not everyone as talented as Clint was taken care of. There was a lot of jealousy and a lot of things Clint doesn't talk about, still," Phil said before turning to find Clint.

Tony looked at Natasha he figured as close as they were that they told each other everything. "Did you know?"

Natasha shook her head. "No. Clint and I never talked about our pasts unless it has a direct bearing on the mission We knew we each had things in our past better left alone." She had been watching Clint and Coulson and had been surprised by the revelation. Like everyone else she had been taken in by the clown story Clint always told. 

*&*

Phil found him sitting on the window seat in his bedroom. "Hey," he said quietly as he sat opposite Clint.

When Clint finally looked up at him, he sighed. "Hey. Did you tell them?"

"Not everything," Phil answered. "Enough for them to know to back off," he said, then added, "I think Tasha was a little hurt she didn't know."

"Other than the fact you're Phil and know everything, I still don't know how you know what happened."

Phil reached across and took Clint's hand in his own giving it a squeeze. "One, because we've known each other for years and two, I'm a trained observer with a psychology degree."

"heh," Clint said as he shifted and leaned against Phil's chest. "Can we go someplace? Get away for a couple of days?"

Smoothing his hand down Clint's back and dropping a kiss on his lover's head, Phil smiled and answered, "I think that can be arranged."

"Good," Clint murmured. Getting out of the city is just what he needed to clear his head and put the ghosts that had started to creep in around the edges with all the circus hype back to rest.


End file.
